Solar Lottery in Philip K Dick

Jun 23, 2019 Simon rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1950s, science-fiction, dystopia, reviewed

"the Solar Lottery" is Philip K. Dick's very first published novel, which first saw print in 1954, and while it's not quite as well crafted as some of his later work "The Solar Lottery" is nonetheless both ahead of its time and has most of PKD's signature themes well in place already.

The plot takes place in a future where corporations have superseded nation-states in political influence and revolves around a lethal game show that functions as the basis for this future world's government system. "the Solar Lottery" is Philip K. Dick's very first published novel, which first saw print in 1954, and while it's not quite as well crafted as some of his later work "The Solar Lottery" is nonetheless both ahead of its time and has most of PKD's signature themes well in place already.

The plot takes place in a future where corporations have superseded nation-states in political influence and revolves around a lethal game show that functions as the basis for this future world's government system. There already we can see how "Solar Lottery" foreshadows both the cyberpunk of the 1980s as well as future bloodsport movies like "Death Race 2000", "Rollerball" and "The Running Man". One of the world's major new religions in this dystopia is the cult of personality revolving around John Preston, a pioneering visionary mathematician who disappeared in search of the solar system's hypothetical tenth planet, so PKD's unusual attention to how religion would evolve in the future is at work as well. (compare and contrast to Mercerism in "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?")

As typical for PKD already the plot constantly takes twists where the reader's basic expectations about what is really going on are constantly subverted, if not quite on as drastic a level as would become the norm in his later books. The actual quality of the writing is a bit hit-and-miss, though. There are some very suspenseful scenes especially the one involving remote controlled assassin androids, which basically predicts today's drone warfare, but other things about the story could have been better thought out. The exact details of how the titular lottery functions are rather sketchily drawn and not always as clear as they could be, as are the motivations of the many main characters who constantly manipulate and betray each other.

"The Solar Lottery" is still a pretty entertaining read, because it moves at a very fast pace and is very good at developing an atmosphere of combined high class corporate glamour and dystopian paranoia to bask in for the reader. Just don't expect something quite on the level of the author's later and more celebrated works like "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" "Flow My Tears the Policeman Said" or "Ubik". ...more

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Mar 02, 2020 Frank D'hanis junior rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

Eerste boek dat Philip k. Dick publiceerde, maar zitten meer van zijn thema's in dan in het latere The Cosmic Puppets bijvoorbeeld. Je kan nog wel zien dat het vroeg werk is doordat hij nog niet de gebruikelijke termen hanteert (precog, conapt, ...). In een typische verhaaltwist worden een loser (Cartwright, haast bejaarde leider van een ruimtesekte) en een loner (Benteley, die vrijwillig een succesvolle carrière opgeeft) ondanks zichzelf gekatapulteerd tot antagonisten van de gewelddadige oppor ...more

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